The ESA’s Aeolus Satellite Will Greatly Enhance Weather Forecasting

On August 21st, the European Space Agency will launch their much anticipated Aeolus satellite to help improve weather predictions.

Aeolus — named after the mythological Greek god of the wind — will map wind and cloud patterns using laser imaging tech. The project was originally designed in 1999 and set to launch in 2015, but issues with the space delivery vehicle delayed the launch to August 2018.

Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus (ADM-Aeolus) will use a special lidar instrument to beam ultraviolet light onto Earth’s clouds. The beamed light pulses will bounce back to Aeolus for processing. The instrument is called the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument, or ALADIN for short.

According to ESA, “The Aeolus mission will be the first space mission to acquire profiles of the wind on a global scale and pave the way for future operational wind missions.”